In the ancient Olympic Games, a herald would announce the name of the winner, his father’s name and his homeland before the Hellanodikis (Greek judge) would place a sacred olive tree wreath, or kotinos, on the winner’s head.

Andreas Athanasiou wears a hockey helmet, not an olive branch, but he finds great peace in pursuing the same athletic ideals that once drove his ancestors.

It is not enough to be fast. One must be the fastest.

Indeed, Athanasiou (ath-ehn-uh-SEE-you) will tell you that his need for speed is in his blood.

His father, Stan, was born in Athens; his mother is from Guyana on the northern coast of South America. Living in Canada, they raised a family for which sport was almost second nature.

Andreas’ oldest sibling and only sister, Alisha, played soccer and baseball. His older brother, Dimitri, participates in extreme sports, and his little brother, Nicholas, enjoys playing recreational sports.

“My parents were incredibly supportive,” said Athanasiou, whose father played basketball and ran cross country. “They always went to whatever games we were playing.”

Athanasiou was already in skates when he was eight months old. “My dad would hold me or push me in a chair,” he said. “I just fell in love with it. My earliest memory is that I would hold his hand and he would slingshot me down the ice. I always wanted to go faster. I couldn’t go fast enough.”

The family lived in London, Ontario, where Andreas was born, then moved to Mississauga for about a year when he was 5, before eventually settling in Vaughan, a bedroom community north of Toronto.

“I remember we’d be on the big hill in winter and I wanted to go straight down as fast as I could,” he said. “I was a little speed demon. As a little kid, I had no fear.”

At school, his athletic pursuits extended beyond hockey to soccer and basketball as well as track and field. He won the York Region Cross Country Run in grades 4, 5 and 6 and came in second in grade 8 when he was named athlete of the year.

Athanasiou was also a good student, scoring good grades at Emily Carr Secondary School while he was the youngest player on the Toronto Titans, a midget minor team in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.

He was usually one of the fastest skaters in whatever league he played. By the time he was drafted in the fourth round of the OHL draft by the London Knights, he was highly regarded for his wheels. “I guess I had that fast twitch,” he said. “I did my best to make sure that never went away.”

His speed gained him entry into the junior ranks, but it didn’t guarantee him ice time.

Disappointed with how much he got to play in London, he asked for a trade after his second year with the Knights. “I felt like I produced for the amount of ice time I got, but I didn’t get as much opportunity in London because of all the talent on the team,” he recalled.

Once considered a possible top-15 pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Athanasiou slid all the way to the fourth round, where the Red Wings selected him with the 110th overall pick.

London subsequently traded his junior rights to the Barrie Colts for two second-round picks (2013, 2015) and a third-round pick (2014).

Athanasiou blossomed in Barrie, where he was given an expanded role. He recorded 29 goals and 38 assists for 67 points in 66 games during 2012-13, then exploded a year ago with a 49-goal season.

The speedster, who registered 41 goals in his last 45 games with Barrie, gives credit to Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk for showing confidence in his ability.

“He’s a Hall of Famer, so he knows all the little things about the game,” Athanasiou said. “He was an offensive-minded guy when he played, so he’d pull me aside and show me little things. Even now when you see him on the ice, you can see what he can still do. I tried to watch him and take as much from him as I could.”

Hawerchuk, meanwhile, was more than a little impressed by Athanasiou’s speed and agility.

“You could see from scrimmages that, if you just let off the gas pedal a little bit on this guy, he chips it by you, and he’s gone,” Hawerchuk once told the Barrie Examiner newspaper. “His speed and his quickness are probably second to none.”

Athanasiou is still learning to harness his speed. He can dipsy-doodle his way through the ice with the best; his ability to “dangle” has twisted more than a few defenders into knots.

In elementary school, he played sepak takraw, a form of kick volleyball that is especially popular in Southeast Asia. His school made it all the way to Calgary for the All-Canada championship, where it eventually lost to a team from Thailand.

“I think playing it helped my hockey,” he said. “Those awkward positions for some guys aren’t so awkward for me. Flexing my skates, I might be able to kick it up. I like to play around with the puck.”

No matter how tight or limited the space, Athanasiou has the talent to turn nothing into something fairly quickly, and he knows it.

He believes he has the talent to play in the NHL, and he will let you know it, not out of arrogance, but out of a supreme confidence in his ability to show what Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill calls “flashes of brilliance.”

“I’m very confident in my abilities,” he said. “I think I have what it takes to make it to the next level, but I also know there are a lot of people who have what it takes. It’s how bad you want it. It’s how hard you are willing to work.”

Athanasiou saw action in two AHL games with the Griffins at the end of last season before appearing in six Calder Cup Playoff contests.

“I was so happy to get that chance to see what being a pro is, not just on the ice, but also how guys act off the ice. You learn what it takes.”

He knows it will take a lot to get to the next level. He is ready to pay his dues.

“This is a smart organization. They know what they are doing,” Athanasiou said. “Wherever they put me, I’ll be more than happy because they’re obviously doing something right to be able to make the playoffs for so long. I know in the long run, they know the plan.”

Blashill believes Athanasiou has the talent to excel.

“He skates and makes plays at full speed that most guys don’t do. It’s just a matter of him learning to do that every day, and he won’t be denied the success at the level that he ultimately wants to play, which is the NHL.

"He has to learn that in pro hockey you cannot afford to have bad days. You can have great days and good days. If he can learn to bring that level of consistency, he’s going to be a really, really good player.”

In preparation, Athanasiou worked hard on his strength and conditioning this summer with trainer Ray LeBlanc.

“Whenever I’m in the gym, he’s there and he watches over every aspect of my training, whether it’s my form or my technique or the little things to get that extra jump,” he said. “I’ve known him since I was a little kid. He really knows the science behind the sport.”

Athanasiou is looking for every edge he can. “Getting the chance to turn pro, I want to make the most of it,” he said. “I’m playing with grown men now, so I’ve got to be prepared. That’s why I’ll come ready to play every day.”

He continues to get encouragement from his family – from his Greek godparents, who live in London, Ontario, where he celebrated many Greek traditions and holidays, to his father, who is a pilot for Air Canada.

“He’s my dad, so I look up to him,” Athanasiou said, no pun intended. “I remember being in kindergarten and being so happy to have him come into school. It was cool to have him come in and talk about his career. Flying a plane is such a cool job.”

Flying down the ice in a Red Wings jersey would be pretty cool, too.